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Arts
Arts, a well-known topic since the dawn of time, quickly fell out of popularity after the Turn. The study of the manipulation of elements, wielders of arts hold great power, but require great mental strength, and in this day and age receive great discrimination. There are numerous categories of arts, divided by their various effects. The most notorious category is Dark Arts. There have been very few users of Dark Arts in the past, Arlthrulaastan being one of these. Dark Arts are responsible for much of the stigma surrounding arts, and few understand their true capabilities. The Power of Arts Since arts control the building blocks of the world, their power is technically only limited by how capable the user is. They can do anything from sapping the life out of someone to bringing an inanimate object to life. They can create light or cause darkness, place matter where there was none, or summon the power of the wind and tempests. However, the real power of arts comes when they combine different elements, especially when they combine a material and energy element. There are a total of 13,699 combinations of the seven different elements, ranging from basic combinations of two different elements to the extremely complex and difficult to master combinations of six or the seven different elements. Because the order in which they are used matters, these combinations of elements make the study of arts extremely complex, and it can take an entire lifetime to merely master one aspect. Dark Arts supposedly have the ability to manipulate abstract elements, though this claim remains unproven. If this was possible, a true master of Dark Arts would be able to destroy the entire world. However, it is hypothesized that Dark Arts are much more mentally and physically draining than ordinary arts, thus severely crippling their true powers. However, it all remains as speculation since no one truly knows their capabilities. How Arts are Used Many of the races in Cheridith have (or had) a natural affinity for arts; they are known as natural casters. Some, like Humans and Aelves, can gain the ability to learn arts. Others, such as the Beastslain, cannot use arts at all. For those with a natural affinity for mastery of these powers, arts are merely an instinct to them, as natural as moving a limb or walking. In some, arts are even triggered subconsciously, like Ash Druids, who have strong naturally regenerative powers, helping the landscape and nature to regrow or grow even better. They can merely think, and it will happen. Learned Method Users who learn arts usually experience the greatest mental toll since it is not natural to them. Aelves have a better time of it than Humans because they are born with the ability to learn arts, while Humans have to take mutagenic potions before they have that ability. Users who learned arts are also the most susceptible to mental breakdown and corruption. It is also more difficult for creatures who learn arts to learn new ones. More often than not, a Human or Aelve user of arts will turn out evil in one way or another. At the very least they are usually narcissistic and cold-hearted. Beyond that, most of them also are unable to do it silently and have to actually incant to use these powers. Painting Painting is when an arts user uses arts. For many of the races who control arts, this comes naturally, like walking, while races who have learned it require great mental taxation. Either way, the use of many arts usually involves vivid colored light, and at the very least the user will experience a multi-colored changing image in their head, which adjusts according to the element(s) used. In Humans, many experience a change in eye color when they use arts, while Aelves actually change skin tone. Types of Arts Arts are categorized by a complex system involving their purpose, the elements they use, and their difficulty to master. Difficulty is calculated by the following equation: n*(∑(di)) * c and is measured in thoughts. A thought is one of the mental processes required to perform the art. The number of unique elements involved is represented by n, ∑(di) is the sum of the individual difficulties of each element, and c is the cost. Cost is a measure of how taxing the art is, and has units of trials. A trial is a series of thoughts. Cost is calculated through this equation: n*(∑(ci*i)). The cost of each element is represented by ci, and n is the number of measures of elements. A measure is how many times the element is used and there should be as many n's as there are unique elements used. The equation for cost is not commutative, so it is important to sum the elements in the right order. A table of the elements and their respective costs and difficulties is as follows. Life Arts Life arts typically involve the elements of Verdure and Growth in their most basic forms, but get more and more complicated with the addition of other elements. Ordered in difficulty, they are as follows: Rejuvenate I Rejuvenate I is done with Verdure. It has three different degrees, indicated by lowercase Roman numerals. The first degree uses one measure of Verdure, and is used primarily to restore injuries that have not broken skin. These would be contusions and other bruises. Rejuvenate Ii can also heal mild sickness such as cough and sore throat. The cost of Rejuvenate Ii is 2 and its difficulty is 4. Rejuvenate Iii works more powerfully than Rejuvenate Ii and can heal minor wounds and further sickness. Rejuvenate Iii can also aid in general healing, speeding up the process of recovery. Rejuvenate Iii uses two measures of Verdure, and its cost is 12. Its difficulty is 48. Rejuvenate Iiii is the most powerful form of Rejuvenate I. This can be used to restore broken bones and heal an illness that is not life threatening. However, where fatality is concerned, Rejuvenate Iiii fails. It cannot heal a fatal wound or illness. Despite that, it will accelerate the body's natural healing, and thus can be used to save lives. Using there measures of Verdure, Rejuvenate Iiii has a cost of 36 and a difficulty of 216. Regeneration I Regeneration I is performed with Growth. Regeneration has five different degrees, indicated by lowercase Roman numerals. The first degree uses a single measure of Growth, and it has the ability to regenerate things like lost hair, nails. It can also heal skin blemishes and is frequently used by cosmeticians. Since it uses only one measure of Growth, it has a cost of 5 and a difficulty of 15. Regeneration Iii uses two measures of Growth to improve regenerative effects. Users of Regeneration Iii can regenerate more complex things such as teeth and flesh. They cannot, however, regenerate bone or organs. Muscles, however, are in the range of Regeneration Iii. It has a cost of 30 and a difficulty of 180. Regeneration Iiii is the last degree of regeneration that uses merely Growth. It can restore bone and tissue, however the limbs it can restore are extraneous, such as hands and feet. Even arms and legs if the user is skilled enough, but anything containing organs cannot be regenerated. Organs cannot be regenerated, though blood can be restored using this form of regeneration. Regeneration Iiii has a cost of 90 and a difficulty of 1,350. Regeneration Iiv combines Growth and Verdure. Using two measures of each, it has the ability to regenerate organs, though it will not regenerate the heart or brain. However, Regeneration Iiv is relatively slow, thus regeneration of multiple organs or more crucial organs usually takes longer than the patient has. A measure of Verdure is used first to lay the foundation, and then a measure of Growth is used to modify it. This is followed by an additional measure of Verdure and a final measure of Growth. Regeneration Iiv has a cost of 152 and a difficulty of 4,256. Regeneration Iv is very complicated, despite combining the same elements, Growth and Verdure. It has the same amount of measures as Regeneration Iiv, but uses them in a different order. Both measures of Verdure are used first, followed by a both measures of Growth. This stacked order allows for faster, better, and more precise regeneration. Like Regeneration Iiv, it cannot regenerate the heart or brain, however it has a much better rate of regeneration at a cost of 164 and a difficulty of 4,592. Since the actual learning curve for Regeneration Iv is not very steep (336 thoughts), most users who have mastered Regeneration Iiv have also learned Regeneration Iv Fire Arts Fire arts are some of the most complicated arts, and typically involve the elements of Heat and Wind. More complicated ones can include things like Ground, Chill, and Liquid, though these are very difficult to execute. Incineration I Incineration I is performed using Heat at its first two degrees, and its third and fourth degrees use Wind as well. The goal of this art is to burn an object. Incineration cannot sustain a flame in and of itself, as the art produces a burst of fire of the proportion and power specified. As it is one of the most basic Fire Arts, it is usually learned or achieved first. Incineration Ii can only burn small, highly flammable objects, and they have to be in direct contact with the user's hand. The cost of Incinerate Ii is 10 and it has a difficulty of 70. The incantation for Incineration Ii is as follows: Cha ilium verdes cha verdes geis no cha geis verdes ilium cha verdes no cha liet verdes cha geis liet no cha ilium geis cha liet liet no cha geis cha verdes ilium verdes no cha liet verdes cha verdes ilium no cha verdes ilium cha liet liet no cha verdes geis verdes cha liet no verdes liet ilium liet geis liet no cha verdes ilium liet geis verdes cha Incineration Iii uses two measures of Heat. These together create a more powerful flame that can burn larger objects. These objects still have to be flammable though, as the heat of the fire produced is not that hot. The size of the objects still has to be small enough that the user can carry it in one hand with relative ease. Incineration Ii has a cost of 60 and a difficulty of 840. Incineration Iiii actually makes use of Wind to propel the flame from the user's hand. Average range is about three feet. The Wind element is painted right after the two measures of Heat. It is essentially Incineration Iii with the added capability of burning things not in contact with the user's hand. However, because of the added oxygen from the Wind, the fire does actually burn hotter and a little larger, meaning it has less trouble with more inflammable objects, and can consume slightly larger ones. It has a cost of 90 and a difficulty of 3,060. Incineration Iiv uses two measures of Wind instead of the solitary measure used in Incineration Iiv. This actually allows the flame to last longer, increasing the range to a distance of about twenty feet, though faster users can extend that range to twenty-five feet. As before, Wind comes after the measures of Heat. Not only does it step up in range, but it also steps up in temperature and size, allowing the burning of bigger objects and objects that are harder to light. The burning of things such as stone and metal is still impossible, however. Incineration Iiv has a cost of 260 and a difficulty of 10,400. Incantations When learned users use arts, or when users use arts they have learned and are not natural to them, they have to incant it. The following are the different words used in the incantations. Incantation typically works in phrases with phrases joined by the word No. Phrases are usually similar to each other, but are each unique in the incantation. # Bar - Shield # Cha - Burn # Chak - Spear # Corpa - Body # Geis - Glow # Gin - Bow # Ilium - Light # Kava - Cold # Lai - Arrow # Liet - Bright # Nai - Fear # Nak - Harm # Navo - Suffering # No - And # Sci - Sword # Shai - Wound # Sto - Pain # Verdes - Fire